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21. Minerva development project applies an integrated approach to managing environment and community issues
The Minerva gas field is located approximately 10 kilometres offshore from Port Campbell in the Otway Basin of Victoria, Australia. Our development project management team understands the importance of a proactive approach to managing environment and community issues. They recognise that the community and other stakeholders have a diverse range of perspectives and inputs to offer that can prove valuable in the successful execution of the project. The Environmental Review Committee (ERC) is a formal communication mechanism that has been put in place to involve the project's key stakeholders, allowing them to review each phase of the project, including its planning, construction and operation.
The Minerva development project is scheduled for completion in 2004. Untreated gas from two wells will be transported via an undersea pipeline that crosses the shore at Two Mile Bay, traversing through a horizontally drilled hole under the Port Campbell National Park and continuing underground to a gas treatment plant located approximately 4.5 kilometres inland.
Key issues and concerns raised by the community during the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process included the visual impact of offshore and onshore facilities; impact from shore crossing of pipelines; effects of air, water, noise or odour emissions from the plant; the impact of condensate trucking operations on local traffic; issues relating to Aboriginal sites and Native Title; the importance of protecting the iconic coastline and tourist routes; and the need to maintain the integrity of the Port Campbell National Park. These issues have been substantially addressed by such project decisions as careful selection of the plant site, design modifications, early landscaping of the site and seasonal restrictions on construction activities.
The ministerial approval conditions, together with recommendations made by a ministerially appointed review panel and the Company's own voluntary commitments during the EIA, resulted in a considerable list of commitments to be adhered to by the development. These commitments have been collated in the form of a register - The EIS/EES Commitments Register - that forms the basis of the commitments implementation strategy.
The ERC was established following the state and federal ministerial assessments of the EIA process. The Committee has prepared a formal charter that ensures its activities are conducted in an ordered and constructive manner. Operating as an active working group, it provides an opportunity for community members to understand the operations by being regularly informed on project activities and is the primary mechanism for the community to express concerns about issues related to the development. Members of the Committee are consulted on the design of monitoring programs, and they review results of monitoring in accordance with the consultative process recommended within the ministerial assessment.
Chaired by an independent chairperson who is an elected member of the local Corangamite Shire Council, the Committee's wide range of stakeholders includes representatives from federal and state government authorities, shire representatives, the local school, environment groups, the local Aboriginal community, neighbours, and representatives from the Company and the project.
The recommended level of consultation for the project has been exceeded and involves ERC members as full auditors in environmental audits carried out on the project. To ensure that their participation in audits is effective, ERC members nominated to represent the group in environmental audits have received formal auditor training, which has provided community members with additional skills.
As at June 2003, three audits involving trained representatives from the ERC had been conducted; and the results have been subsequently presented to ERC meetings by the audit representatives. These audits have checked conformance with the requirements of the Environmental Management Plan modules for offshore drilling and subsea installation of the gas production wells, for the horizontal directional drilling shore crossing, and for the onshore flow-line.
With the ERC in place as the main forum for community consultation, a number of community projects are also being undertaken, consistent with the BHP Billiton Community Programs Guidelines. As well as sponsorship of local projects that benefit the widest possible range of community sectors, initiatives include the provision of job training opportunities to students of the local school and career orientation seminars given to local school students by BHP Billiton professional staff.
